A Star Media’s John Starkie with teammate Malk Hall from Hall Fast cycled an impressive and gruelling 300 miles in 24 hours. After 6 months of aggressive training, they were able to cycle from Newcastle to London to raise money for the Fountindale SEN School and Headway Charity.

Overcoming just under 310 miles, strong headwinds and over 7,500 climbing feet John and Malk were able to finish in the 126/127th position out of the 400 riders, even after Malk’s bike chain braking. The impressive feat has raised thousands for their chosen charities so far and if you would like to show your support you can still donate here.

Last week A-Star Media headed down to London to take part in the Small Business Saturday official launch, celebrating a wide range of small businesses from all over the UK.

The team showed their support for Small Business Saturday at their official UK London launch event with some slo-mo magic. Armed with bubbles, party poppers and a camera, John and Katrina set up a stall ready for participants to see themselves perform in amazing slo-mo. To see the fun and the action for yourself, have a look at the video A-Star produced for the day:

Katrina Atherton, Business Director at A-Star Media said, ‘This has been an amazing opportunity for us, but it’s also a great opportunity for companies all over the UK to get involved. I’d tell every business in Mansfield to check out the Small Business Saturday website and see how they can benefit.’

Small Business Saturday is a grassroots, non-commercial campaign, which highlights small business success and encourages consumers to ‘shop local’ and support small businesses in their communities. Each year they run a Small Business 100 campaign, which celebrates promotes 100 small businesses in the 100 days leading to the first Saturday in December, where the businesses are then invited to a reception at Downing Street. Last year, A-Star Media were honoured to take part in the Small Business 100 and have chosen to support the campaign this year.

After the success we had with last year’s intern Richard, A Star Media has once again chose to take part in the Ashfield and Mansfield Aim Higher Scheme this summer.

The Ashfield and Mansfield Aim Higher scheme creates work placements for undergraduates in local businesses. This allows students to take part in a great opportunity of working and gaining experience in their preferred industry over the summer period right on their doorstep.

Our latest team member Danielle is a local Film Studies undergraduate who will be helping primarily with the 2015 East Midlands Chambers Business Awards as well as a variety of other projects. Danielle will be with the team until the end of summer, where she will start her final year at Edge Hill University.

Last year, A Star’s John Starkie cycled 170 miles in 3 days for the Coast to Coast bike ride. This time, the challenge has been raised as John prepares to cycle 300 miles in just 24 hours for charity.

John will be completing the 300 mile Ride 24 challenge with our long standing customer and friend, Malk Hall from Hall-Fast Industrial Supplies, and is helping raise money for the Fountaindale School and Headway charity. The Fountaindale School is a specialist SEN school in Mansfield that provides inclusive education to pupils aged between 3-19 who have complex physical and sensory needs, and Headway is a UK wide charity that works to improve lives of head injury survivors after their injury.

Ride 24 is the challenge to cycle the full 300 miles from Newcastle to London in only 24 hours. The ride will be broken up into 7 stages with rest stops roughly 40-45 miles apart. The ride will take an incredible amount of endurance and will power and we wish John all the luck for his journey in August!

So far an amazing total £44,000 has been raised of the £55,000 target goal for the chosen charities, and they hope to raise £5,000 from the ride. They are offering companies and individuals the opportunity to have their logo or name printed on the cycling jerseys for a minimum donation of just £25.00. If you would like to help John raise more of the needed funds you can sponsor him here.

Our very own Katie Atherton took up running earlier this year to get fit and raise money for Jigsaw, a Mansfield based charity that helps elderly and vulnerable people. Here’s what Katie had to say:

“Something I never thought I would ever be able to do was run a half marathon!

I started training back in April and slowly built myself up. The first mile I ran was so hard I never thought I’d manage, but lots of people helped me and gave me great advice to build my fitness.

Running the half marathon was really tough and very emotional. The longest I had run in training was 10 miles and I really felt those last 3 miles, but people kept cheering me on so I kept going. My finish time was just under 2 and a half hours, so for my first half marathon I’m really pleased.

I’m hoping to raise £500 for Jigsaw, which is a great local charity that I’m a trustee of, and I’d like to keep the running up going forward (once my legs stop aching!)”

We’re excited to announce we’ve been selected as part of 100 small businesses across the UK to be showcased for Small Business Saturday 2014.

Small Business Saturday is a grass-roots, non-political, non-commercial campaign that supports, inspires and promotes small business and encourages people to support small businesses in their communities, both on the Saturday itself and beyond.

A-Star Media has been involved with a number of local initiatives to support local business and employability, including being part of the award winning Career Champions programme with the Mansfield Learning Partnership, and assisting in the creation of Mansfield’s first ever small business showcase ‘Be, See and Do Business in Mansfield, in partnership with the Mansfield BID, Mansfield 2020 and Mansfield District Council.

Small Business Saturday is a time to focus on our nation’s small businesses, which provide almosttwo thirds of private sector employment and almost half of private sector turnover. This year Small Business Saturday in will take place on the 6th December, one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

At the weekend John Starkie from A-Star Media, along with local business people and general do-gooders, took part in a gruelling 3 day Coast to Coast bike ride to raise money for the Fountaindale SEN school in Mansfield.

Starting in Morecambe and ending in Bridlington, the challenge tested the team to its limits with relentless steep hills. 170 miles of them!

Approximately £2500 was raised for the school, however you can still sponsor post bike ride here.